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I told you about RedBubble a few days ago in my post My Top 10 Book Related Sites. Well, it didn’t make much sense to recommend a site I had not fully used yet – as in, not having received my orders at the time -, so now that I have I would like to […]

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen.
There are a few websites where I tend to spend most of my free time online and I thought I would share them with you.
So without further ado, let us begin!

1

GoodReads revolutionized my world.
First of all, the shelves. Oh eme gee, how I needed that feature! My books are all over the place and I got to a point where I would buy a book I already owned because I could not keep track.
Then I started writing my reviews, something I had never done before.
As I am sure you know by now, this site has all sorts of amazing features. I love pretty much all of them.
I also created my group Book Lair, met a bunch of lovely folks and get to discuss books and other random stuff with them.

2

So I discovered I enjoy reviewing the books I read. Now I need books, right? However, my budget is very limited, so what to do?…
Netgalley came to my rescue. It has become my main source of free books, closely followed by the authors themselves.
Though not all requests get approved, I have to say I absolutely love this site for two main reasons:
1) I get to choose what I read;
2) I don’t deal directly with people, so feel more motivated to write everything I think in the most honest way, whereas I always feel guilty writing something negative when the author approached me or vice-versa.

3

Book Depository is the main source of my bought physical copies.
Not only are their prices great, but the shipment is free worldwide.
The orders take a few weeks to arrive, which is fine by me. Kind of like Christmas every time I get a new book, especially if I pre-ordered it (even cheaper) and forgot about it by the time it arrives in my mailbox.

4

I started following Book Riot on facebook because I found their book related pics beautiful.
Then I found they also posted great articles and got even more into it.
I can tell I will be featuring them as part of my Random Chats feature quit often.

5

This is a very recent discovery.
Like Book Depository, it has worldwide free shipment, but you can order not only new but also used books. Living in Portugal, this is a great find for me. Whenever I tried to order used books, I always had to pay shipping costs, and they weren’t cheap either…
But more importantly than that, they have all sorts of environmental friendly options. I cannot really tell you what I chose, but I payed only a few more cents to reduce carbon emissions in the process of getting the book. Or something like that. It was nice for our planet, anyhow.
Oh and have I mentioned that every time you order a book from them, they donate one to people in need? How cool is that?? These folks have their heart in the right place.
The only downside I can see is that their catalogue is quite limited.
I have placed my first order but have not received it yet, so cannot comment on that. The order confirmation e-mail I got was just adorable though so, so far, I am enjoying the experience very much.

6

I found this site maybe a couple of weeks ago.
Like Netgalley, it provides advanced reading copies in exchange for reviews – but not just e-books, physical copies too.
They seem to be automatically accepted (I have only requested one book so cannot be 100% sure), but the amount of books you may have access to request depends on several factors. Two of the ones I have realized is where you live and your Klout score – the higher it is, the bigger the catalogue you can request from.
Unlike Netgalley, you can only request a book at a time. From the day you requested it, you need to wait 5 days to post your review, and then you may request another one.

7

After finding BfB, I tried out Klout. Though there has been a bit of a controversy around the site, since the concept is that your score supposedly rises according to how often you post and therefore influence people and that is not so easily measured, I can tell it contains some features I might enjoy, particularly the Explore one. Once you set your tastes, it will display related information.
Now if it would only stop glitching… I have not been able to login to my account for close to three weeks now… If you use this site, please post in comments below whether you can, I am curious if it’s just me. Customer support hasn’t been much help. Anyway, it’s a cool site which will show you information based on your set interests.

8

Also a recent discovery but I can already tell it is going to be hard to stay away from RedBubble, and not let it tempt me.
Technically it’s not exactly a book related site, since there is plenty other content. There is all sorts of products featuring amazing art.
I ran a search for book and was lost for hours. I already ordered a t-shirt and am currently trying my best to keep from ordering the cutest mug.
Again, main issue is the shipping costs…

9

BookBub alerts me everyday to promotions and even free e-books of the genres I most enjoy reading, not only from Amazon, though that’s the site I mainly use, since I own a Kindle Paperwhite.
Because one’s TBR pile can never be big enough… Right?

10

Probably silly but my WordPress reader is still one of my main sources for all things bookish.
I have followed quite a few blogs, and most folks have been kind enough to follow me back, and I have read some very interesting stuff!
So much so that I have decided to include a widget on the sidebar showcasing all you lovely people who have taken the time to follow the blog!
Thank you so much for making Ana’s Lair what it is today and giving me the motivation to keep going.

Enough gushing!!
What are your top book related sites? I would love to know! Please post them below.